This phrase has been around since at least the 1890's, but it seems even more appropriate today. According to an entry in Wikipedia the phrase was popularised by Mark Twain, but attributed to a number of different people. The essence of the phrase is that "there are three kinds of falsehood, "fibs", "downright lies", and the most aggravated, "statistics" The latter is often the basis of support for even the most grievous falsehood - upon which much government policy has been based throughout History. One variation on the above was noted in the same Wikipedia article, by Robert Giffen in 1892 in the Economic Journal 2(6), to wit, there are three kind of unreliable witness; liars, damned liars and experts.

A Daily Mail headline today stated that HMRC has 2.5 million Europeans registered for tax and were working in the UK during 2013-2014, whereas official statistics indicate that only 1.7 million Europeans are living and working in the UK which represents about 800,000 missing or a discrepancy of approximately 47%, if my calculator is working properly. So 47% of the population of Europeans who are living in the UK have been miscounted (or there is some other reason) by the UK statistics agency - the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Whilst it is laudable to see that so many from Europe are registered for tax it is also clear - well known from evidence given by migrants themselves - that one of the attractions of working in Britain is its vibrant "Black Economy" which offers a multitude of opportunities to avoid registering or paying tax in Britain; and why would anyone pay tax if they did not have to pay it - ask the multinationals and the tax exiles. This also applies to non-European illegal immigrants who also state that another pull factor bringing them to Britain, apart from the generous benefit system designed by Brown and New Labour - which also removed the requirement for the Border agencies to register those who left the country - was the Human Rights Act., which means that they would be very unlikely to be removed or sent back; for any reason.

The real problem with these current statistics is that they are illogical - it makes no sense that more people would be register to pay tax than those who would take the opportunity to avoid paying tax - what seems more likely is that 2.5 million Europeans (EU and non-EU) have obtained NI numbers in order to obtain benefits, and there is a hidden population of ~800,000 that the ONS did not know about? - or the ONS system of obtaining migrant data is woefully inadequate and it should, perhaps be +/- 47%? We are not suggesting that such is the case, but it is clear that there are questions that need to answered relating to our true population level and its demographic - as indicated in the press.

The problem is that our governments base their economic planning, resource allocation and cost / benefit analysis on such figures; and the case for whether or not uncontrolled mass migration - from the EU - is a net benefit or simply a drain on our resources, needs to be answered as a matter of the highest priority.

Blair's actions related to the Border agency monitoring, as outlined above, rendered the population figures inconclusive; and a number of politicians subsequently used reports - that suggested that migration from the EU was a net benefit to Britain, to push for ever increasing migration, (and, in particular from the Middle East, even though the Muslim Council of Britain had stated in a 2011 census report that only 20% of Muslims were economically active) - were based upon such unreliable figures - the only indisputable fact is that properly controlled migration is a definite benefit to a host country, for example, in the United States and elsewhere.

What is clear is that there has been poor management in the UK immigration system- whether the government is prepared to put that down to inadequate resourcing, poor control or simply down to a requirement for compliance with EU regulations is another matter - but from now on, and between the invocation of Article 50 to the date that we actually leave the EU - Britain must not become a "poster boy" for the sinister EU - UN ideology of European demographic change, and an exemplar for the destruction of social cohesion in settled communities.

Our borders must be properly manned, and adequate resources provided to protect Britain's coastline, and prevent illegal migration either from Europe or elsewhere by land (Channel Tunnel), sea or air - and the sooner we escape from the clutches of the EU - the sooner we will be able to have an immigration system that suits us, rather than one which panders to a misguided Marxist dogma.